PESHAWAR, June 9: Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto has asked the PPP affiliated district Nazims to stay away from the ongoing centre-province row on the petty issues and not to become an instrument in either’s hand.

Talking to Dawn PPP senior-vice president Syed Qamar Abbas said that Ms Bhutto had taken a strong notice of the resignations sent by the PPP affiliated district Nazims to President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

She had told them not to indulge themselves in petty issues and seek a guideline from the provincial leadership on the issue, said Mr Abbas.

He said Ms Bhutto had asked them, if they had gone to a point of no return with the provincial government it was imperative for them to send their resignations to the party leadership.

She told them that they were representatives of general people and not the any of the governments, Mr Abbas said.

He said Ms Bhutto had advised them to sort their problems out with the provincial government and work for the betterment of the people who had voted them for the solution of their problems.

The four PPP affiliated district Nazims Latifullah Khan Alizai (D. I. Khan), Azam Khan Afridi (Peshawar), Humayun Khan (Malakand) and Dr Mehboobur Rehman (Swat) had sent their resignations along with 20 other Nazims on June 1, as a mark of protest over the policies of the NWFP government, to the president.

Some of the district Nazims, who were opposed to the violation of the local government ordinance, 2001 demanded to the president to impose governor’s rule in the province.

All the district Nazims, who held a joint meeting in Peshawar on Monday, would meet president Musharraf at the Governor’s House on Tuesday.